1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector to be mounted in a case of a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,572,150 discloses a device connector for connecting a wire-side connector with a device. The wire-side connector is mounted on an end of a wire extending from a power supply. The device is a motor in a metal case of an electric vehicle. The device connector has a housing made of synthetic resin and formed by insert molding using terminal fittings as inserts. The housing is mounted in an aluminum die-cast shell. The die-cast shell has mounting pieces that receive bolts to mount the device connector in the device.
The aluminum die-cast shell of the conventional device connector is strong but costly. Studies in recent years have tried to develop a sufficiently strong cost efficient device connector by molding a resin housing with a metal reinforcing plate as an insert. However, the synthetic resin shrinks more than the reinforcing plate in a cooling process after insert molding due to differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the synthetic resin and the metal reinforcing plate. Thus, the synthetic resin covering an outer peripheral end portion of the reinforcing plate is pulled by the synthetic resin covering the opposite surfaces of the reinforcing plate and is likely to crack.
The cracked synthetic resin makes the connector look poor and creates a clearance due to a reduction in adhesion of interfaces of the reinforcing plate and the synthetic resin, and water might enter the connector through this clearance.
In view of the above, it has been considered impractical to mold large connectors of synthetic resin with a metal reinforcing plate as an insert.
The invention was completed in view of the above and an object of the invention is to provide a cost efficient device connector produced by insert molding using a reinforcing plate as an insert while preventing a crack from being created in a synthetic resin portion covering the reinforcing plate.